The Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY -- A top Mormon leader says more states and nations may legalize same-sex marriage in the future, but human laws cannot "make moral what God has declared immoral."

Apostle Dallin H. Oaks, in an address Sunday at the Mormon church's biannual general conference in Salt Lake City, said the faith's stance against same-sex marriage might be misunderstood or prompt accusations of bigotry.

But The Salt Lake Tribune reportshe urged members to remember that their first priority is to serve God and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' "policies are determined by the truths God has declared to be unchangeable."

Some 20,000 Mormons gathered at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City and millions more watched worldwide via telecasts and the Internet to hear Oaks' remarks on the final day of the two-day conference.

Church president Thomas S. Monson spoke Sunday about the death of his wife, Frances, in May and about the challenges of facing mortality with strength and grace.